Silicon Insider: Should You Buy an iPhone?
Reasons why you might or might not want to hang-up on iPhone.
June 28, 2007 — -- Okay, let's deal with the tech question of the week right from the start: Should you buy an Apple iPhone?
Frankly, I don't know. I haven't seen one in person and I haven't spoken with anyone -- even at Apple -- who has. So, any opinion I have should be immediately suspect, as it based only upon what I read from other sources, and hear as scuttlebutt around Silicon Valley.
… So, what the heck, here's what I think.
No. You shouldn't buy an Apple iPhone. At least not yet.
I say that, despite the fact that the iPhone will likely live up to most of its pre-introduction hype, and will likely be a landmark, though not completely revolutionary, product that will profoundly impact the telecommunications world for the rest of this decade.
Here's why I don't think you should make the purchase:
The Cost: When you include the price of the iPhone, the monthly AT&T phone fee (and you're committed for two years), the sign up fee, and the cost of loading the device with iTunes, not to mention quitting your current cell phone contract, and you're talking an investment of as much as $2,000.
Be honest: do you really need to spend that much money on a cell phone, even if it has a brilliant interface, MP3 capacity, and Web access? Or would you be willing to settle for 80 percent of that -- i.e., one of the latest smart phones from another manufacturer at less than half the overall price?
The Kool-Aid: The biggest intangible asset of the iPhone is the 'coolness' factor. This is a purely subjective judgment: How much is the ability to sashay around with your iPhone to your ear and impress the hoi-polloi worth to you?
Remember: Apple is cranking out those puppies as fast as it can roll its factories right now. That means by the end of summer there will probably be enough iPhones out in the marketplace that the initial cachet of owning one will have faded. In other words, is the two months of being the coolest techie on your block worth several hundred bucks to you?
The Reviews: I've been struck the last two days by just how careful the early reviews of the iPhone have been. Putting aside the predictable raves of the mainstream media's biggest Apple Fanboy, Steve Levy of Newsweek, the initial reviews have been surprisingly diplomatic.
Related Stories
ABC News Live